July ended on a high for regular and reserve force soldiers working South Africa’s land borders with Eswatini and Zimbabwe by way of a massive dagga bust with a further R327 000 netted in contraband, including cigarettes.
The dagga bust – with a reported value of R5.8 million – is credited to 8 SA Infantry (SAI) Battalion. The Upington-based unit is currently keeping a watchful eye on the KwaZulu-Natal border with landlocked Eswatini. A 31 July patrol in the Mshololo area saw soldiers come across 28 apparently abandoned bags of dagga, Captain Aneliswe Tamela from KwaZulu-Natal Joint Operations HQ reported. The haul – described as “substantial” – was handed to police at Pongola in northern KwaZulu-Natal for safekeeping and further investigation before it is destroyed.
At more of less the same time, 1 Special Services Battalion (SSB) “gunners” turned “infanteers” deployed in Limpopo’s Madimbo flagged a vehicle down only to have it accelerate and speed off. The SSB men and women gave chase, reported Captain Moses Semono from Limpopo Joint Operations Tactical HQ, and hauled in the suspect Toyota Corolla when it had a tyre blow out. Vehicle inspection brought to light a boot loaded with illegal cigarettes. Together the vehicle and cigarettes – now in police safekeeping – are valued at R205 000.
Another SSB patrol, working the Echo Station 2 area, confiscated R66 000 worth of dagga with soldiers from an unidentified unit on patrol to the west of the Beitbridge port of entry (PoE) relieving smugglers of illicit cigarettes worth R218 296.
The KwaZulu-Natal Joint Operations HQ has control and jurisdiction over the province’s land borders with three adjacent countries as per the standing Operation Corona tasking. They are Eswatini, Lesotho – currently overseen by SA Army Reserve Force unit Durban Light Infantry (DLI) – and Mozambique.
The latest border patrol successes follow 1 SSB soldiers recently preventing a stolen Toyota Land Cruiser worth R1.5 million being smuggled into Zimbabwe, and recovering a stolen Mercedes sedan worth R1.5 million on the SA/Zimbabwe border.
In June, SANDF soldiers seized over R10 million worth of contraband along the borders, along with R2 million of drugs. More than 500 illegal immigrants were also apprehended by soldiers in June, and multiple stolen vehicles recovered.
